The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-11-17
Biographies of the Condemned An
Archfst9.

| August Theodore Vincent Spies was credite
| with being the brains of the movement He ha
| gwen his experience in an autobiography whc
| is regarded as the work of genius by his friends
and rs eloquent insanity in print" by thos
| who are opposed to him. He WAS born Decem
Der 10, 1855, in the old robbers castle of Land
| deck" central Germany; one of his early play
things was an old torture rack with which tn
mobiles used to extOrt money from Jews or " reg
ulate" the peasants There he grew up an
thence he came 10 America 10 teach the Anarch
| list doctrine, reaching the new world in 1877
and Chicago year later. There he worked a
an .uphOlslerer for number(Of years. He frs
showed an interest in the theories Of Socialism
in 1875, and in 1877 joined himself to the Leh
and Whcr-Vorein. He was attached 10 Tile ar
better Zeitung in 1880 and succeeded Paul Croft
kau as editor-in-chlef in 1884.
Samuel Fielder, whose sentence was cOmmu
ted to life Imprisonment was born in Todmor
den, Lancashire, England, in 1s47 He grew
up to be laborer and a Methodist field preacher
In 1868 he came to America, and soon located
in Chicago where he joined the Liberal league
in 1880; there he met Spies and Parsons, ant
thereafter grew rapidly into anarchial views
Save him and Parsons, all the condemned are
Germans.
Albert r. Parsons was the only native Amer
lean among the condemned men. Born in Ala
bama in 1848 and early lett an orphan, he was
reared by his brother, whs was afterwards the
noted Confederate General, w. Fl. Parsons
He served in the Confederate artillery when but
IA years old but after the war he became a
Republican, and in 1872 married negro wom-
40 for which his brother disownel him. Before
this he had been first a printer on the Calves
ton (Tex.) Ne,os and later editor of the Waco
(Tex.) Spectator. Because OF this marriage he
was obliged to leave Texas, and locating in Chi
cago he worked in various printing offices, but
after time became professional labor agitator,
was at one time master workman OF District
Assembly "a, Knights Of Labor, and was presI.
dent of the trades assembly for three years.
He was nominated for the Presidency By the
Socialistic party n 1880, but declined, az he was
not then IS years of age. In 1885, at Pittsburg,
he helped frame the platform of the Internation
al Working Peoples Association. He was
named for city clerk of Chicago by the Social.
lists in 1883, and became editor of the Alarm the
organ of the American Group" year later.
Louis Lingg, convicted of having made the
bombs was but % years old and could not sneak
English He is said to have been expelled from
Germany, where he was born, for conspiracy.
Michael Schwab, whose sentence was also
commuted, was a native of Mannheim, Germany.
was born in 1853 and was educated in a con went
Coming 10 America in 1879, he worked for a
time at the book binders trade. He became
connected with the Ar6eitcr Zeitung a, the same
time as Spies.
George Engel was born in Cassel, GERMANY.
in 1886, received common school education.
learned the printers trade and came to America
in 1878. year later he located in Chicago.
where he soon embraced Socialism and became
an Anarchist. He established the Northwest
Group" in 1883.
Adolph Fischer was about 80 years of age and
German. He came to America when lad and
learned the printers trade with his brother. who
published German weekly at Nashville, Tenn.
Later Adolph edited and published the Little
Rock Ark Stats Aitung, which be sold in
1881. Then he worked at his trade in 81. Louis
and Chicago. He sometimes accused Schwab
and Spies of being too mild and at one time es-
tablished Der anarchist paper intended to
supplant the Arbeiter Zeitung.